A Game of Cards?

[Sky]

Ordeum 4, 1595, mid afternoon
in the village around acerbus umbra castle, acerbus umbra, pertanix

Michael smiled as he shuffled the deck of cards in his hands. The last three opponents he had with his card games had lead to easy wins. None of them seemed to understand the basics of a simple game of Blackjack, which was the simplest game he knew of. He sighed as he shook his head, looking around the tavern for a moment before pushing himself to his feet. He picked up his hat and sighed . "Maybe I'll have some more luck with a challenge outside."

Michale walked to the door of the tavern, waving off the offer to play seven - card stud with someone who he had already drained their money from. How do these people get some more money so quickly? Do they steal from others? At least I get mine in a way that is not considered stealing.

He stepped out of the tavern and smiled, putting on his hat and placing the deck of cards inside his coat. He walked silently through the streets. His eyes wandered from side to side as he tried to find his next victim. He smiled as he saw that most people didn't even seem to notice a finely dressed stranger amongst the crowd.

"I guess they all don't find me as strange as I thought they would."

[Roxilicious]

A tall woman, far taller than the average dictates, stormed through the streets of her city, her eyes bloody red and her brow knitted together in anger. She had a furious frown on her face, and her vampire fangs were digging into her chin as she clenched her jaws tightly. Her fists, too, were clenched tightly by her sides as she stalked through the streets, her shoulders tense. She was wearing a familiar, skintight, black leather suit with dozens of pockets, loops, and belts to hold her easily-concealable armory and archer's gloves. Overtop her skintight attire, she wore a black cloak trimmed with a thick, silver band which was further embellished with royal blue embroidery, of swirling patterns. The main color of the cloak was also decorated with swirling embroidery, though it was much less noticeable as it was faintly darker than the rest of the cloak. The hood was up, and the woman's hair was actually down for once, reaching the top of her ribs and flying around in the wind she created with her long, fast strides.

Fastened over her shoulder and across her chest was her arrow quiver. Her recurve bow, enchanted with fire magic, was also equipped to her back for easy access. Many people stared at her; while she was dressed typically for the people of Acerbus Umbra, she had a frightening demeanor about her. No one recognized her as Countess Roxanna, but the expensive cloak, attire, daggers, stilettos, arrows, and bow were a dead giveaway for those bold enough to guess.

She pushed those out of the way if they didn't have the sense or fear to move in the first place. Usually it was just a gentle shove from the shoulder, but familiar faces that had aggravated her on previous accounts received a more forceful escort. Roxanna left a trail of curious bystanders turning around to watch her as she continued on her fiery path to places unbeknownst to others before they turned and continued on their merry way to wherever they were needed.

The Countess was perfectly content with her travel (though not necessarily the reason) until she shoved one woman out of the way and speedwalked directly into Michael. She snarled in utter rage and frustration and glared at the unknown foreigner from underneath her hood. Her pin-straight, dark brown hair framed her face eerily as she looked down at Michael with fire in her bloody eyes.

"What do you think you're doing, common scum?" she hissed, using her amateur auxiliary magic to telekinetically return a fallen stiletto to her possession. She brushed herself off and looked at Michael with a terrible frown and an angry glare, waiting for her answer. As she did, she analyzed him.

Evidently he was a faerie, not too common in Verfall. His face was unfamiliar and looked to be foreign, though she couldn't be sure, considering the vast amount of people in the city. He wore ornate clothes, signifying his probable upperclass wealth. He also wore a tall hat, most unusual for the people of Acerbus Umbra. The hat alone was enough for Roxanna to prematurely conclude he was foreign. She had not seen his cards and would never guess him to be a gambler. This man was strange. What was he doing mucking up her county?

[Sky]

Michael staggered a bit and conjured up a staff of ice to right himself. He paused and brushed out a few wrinkles from his clothing and looked up at the taller vampire. He looked at her for a few moments before taking off his hat and shaking his head. Common scum am I? He looked over the girl quickly, recognizing the feminine facial features. She was tall, a lot taller than he would expect her to be. Her cloak was interesting, his eyes instantly catching the pattern sewn into it in a darker color than the cloak.

"If I'm not mistaken that there is quite an extravagant cloak for a commoner of Acerbus Umbra. You are no normal middle class, nor upper class citizen, are you?" He Raised his eyebrow, the mark on his eye glowing faintly for a moment. He replaced his hat and lowered his head, hiding his face from the taller girl. He did not need this right now, all he was doing was getting a bit of easy money.

"As for me being 'Common scum' I know not where you came from with that. Unless you are angry about something then I can understand. But if you please not take it out on me I would appreciate it." He raised his hand, a single ace spinning on his fingertip.

"Now if you excuse me I have someone to find who can actually play a game of Seven - Card Stud." He turned slightly and began to walk past Roxanna, not really caring who she was, just knowing that he needed to find someone who knew how to play at least some kind of poker game other than Blackjack.

[Holly]

"Now how does a commoner like you get away with brushing the great Countess Roxanna off like that!" A foot firmly hit the back of the gambler's knees, followed by a light-hearted chuckle. The high-spirited, hyper guard captain Renji Toshiro was suddenly behind Michael. He wore a friendly smile despite what he had just done the faerie. The smile curled up into a somewhat creepy grin as he placed his foot on Michael's back and lowered his voice. "I suggest you apologize for your misdeed immediately before my sword goes through your ba--"

"Great Noctzar, Renji. I go into a store for a few minutes and I come back out to find that you've practically tackled someone!" The Mystic of Acerbus Umbra stepped beside Roxanna, nodding her head in respect. As always, Holly had on a pleasant smile that stood out amongst most of the other citizens bustling around the city. She was wearing a long-sleeved blue tunic with a tan vest over the top. And, despite the weather, she wore a short skirt and sandles that strapped up all the way to below her knees. Nothing about the attire screamed Verfall at all.

"Well, you said 'have fun'. Plus, as a guard captain, I have full right to punish those who do not respect the Countess as they should," It was a very cocky day for Renji. Not only was he boasting his status as a guard captain, but he was also gloating about what he could do. Normally, he wouldn't have been so bold.

Holly tugged Renji off the stranger, and then helped the man up with telekinetic power. "Though his actions might have been a bit extreme, he is correct. It is the polite thing to be able to recognize an important person in society and show respect as you would show respect to the gods," The mystic explained swiftly and precisely, reciting Aria's small speech word for word. It wasn't on purpose, mainly just from the numerable times she heard it before.

She turned her head to her Countess and kept her grin besides the fact that Roxanna was mad at the moment. "Fancy meeting you out here, Countess Roxanna."

[Roxilicious]

Roxanna's frown turned into a scowl of disapproval as she glared at Michael with daggers in her eyes. Her bloody stare was accompanied by a jaw that she tightly clenched once more. She was just about to say something when Renji intervened with his too-happy-for-here attitude.

And then she was about to say something again, but he started to speak once more.

And when he was done speaking, Countess Roxanna would say something.

But that didn't happen, because her loyal Mystic, Holly Skies, also entered the stage. The perceptive huntress noticed out of the periphery of her view that irritated commoners were walking around the immobile group, causing a clot in the everyday traffic. She had opened her mouth three times, only to be silenced by her castle-living servants. When Holly stepped in, however, Roxanna decided to be silent and wait for them to finish.

She was absolutely not in the mood to be around the bright and cheery spirits that surrounded her with indefinite effervescence. One of the lower-ranking members of the Nine Dragons wimped out and squealed, alerting the guards to their sanctuary in Ashfall. King Falkor was planning to send capital guards there to ambush the sanctuary, and now she had to get everyone out and ensure the torturous death of the rat who dared to put the entire guild in jeopardy. The Countess needed to get a move on!

"Yeah, real fancy," she snarled coldly, her muttering voice almost indeterminate. Roxanna rolled her eyes from underneath her ornate cloak and found herself gripping the handle of her most-used dagger, which was situated in its sheath on the belt on her hips. She closed her eyes for a moment, picturing the slow death of the tattletale with the very dagger she held in her hands. Perhaps she'd skin him and light him afire as a warning to other frightened members, or maybe she'd cut him and sear his open wounds with flames. Whatever she was to do, she knew it would involve blood and fire. It needed to hurt. The guild could not risk being infiltrated like that ever again, and any other potential traitors would hopefully get the message through their thick skulls when they read of this man's death in the papers the next morning.

[Sky]

"I am sorry Countess Roxanna, I had no idea that was you. I figured you were just a merchant or something." He bent over and picked up his card that he had dropped. "And I didn't think a guard could be so rude, you could have at least given me a chance to apologize before kicking me like that." He stood back up and looked at the now gathered group of people. If he was on a business trip he would consider himself lucky, but he was on a person trip for money.

He didn't find himself lucky at all. Why would he feel lucky? He had too many people of power around him, and most people in that position didn't like gamblers.

"Everybody is out and about I see. What's going on?" Max walked up from the direction of the surrounding woods, her bow and sheath strapped across her back. A set of deer antlers were tied onto the bag she had with her showing that she had recently been hunting.

In her bag was the rest of the deer. She had prepared a little feast for herself, eating some the meat that she had not had in such a long time. The rest was saved for her to equally divide for Kenya and Sabre. Max wanted to get on her good side and this was the only way the kalahati could think of doing so.

Michale sighed when he saw the girl walk up. Another one?

[Holly]

Holly frowned, realizing that it was probably not the best time to be bothering Countess Roxanna. She didn't mean to be of such a disturbance to her and she certainly wasn't going to be one any longer. Gathering her stuff, she smiled lightly at her and nodded in farewell, apologizing quietly and taking a few steps backwards before looking at Renji. And then Max came along and she sighed.

"We were just going," She answered to Max, grimacing at the antlers. She gave the kalahati a look that said 'you probably should get going too' before glancing at Renji. Knowing him, he wanted to tell the rude stranger off and arrest him or something. But, he would also know that now was not the best time to be doing that kind of thing.

"Actually, yeah. I'm gonna continue my round and meet up with Sakura. You can get back to the castle safely, right, Holly?" He smiled at the Mystic. When she nodded, he gave her a thumbs up before running in the opposite direction, managing to give the gambler a dirty look as he left.

"Good day," Holly replied to all of them, turning on her heel and fast walking back to the castle.